Genesis 23: Sarah's Burial

¹ Now Sarah lived 127 years; [these were all] the years of her life. ² Sarah died in Kiriath-arba (that is, Hebron) in the land of Canaan, and Abraham went in to mourn for Sarah and to weep for her.

The first thing I noticed was that we are told how old Sarah was when she died. Before this, the only ones whose deaths were recorded were men. I did a little research on this I found out that Sarah is the only woman in the Bible whose age was documented when she died. This really shows how great and important a woman she truly is. After Sarah died, Abraham came to her side to mourn and weep for her. 


Then, he gets up and goes off to handle the business of burying her body. He asked the Hittites for a place that he could bury his deceased wife. Ephron, speaking for the Hittites, offered Abraham the land for free, saying in verse 6, "Listen to us, lord. You are God's chosen one among us. Bury your dead in our finest burial place. None of us will withhold from you his burial place for burying your dead." This seemed awfully kind of the Hittites to offer free land to Abraham so that he may bury his wife, but I learned that this was a customary way of bargaining during those times. The seller would offer the land for free, and the buyer would have to reject it. Then, the seller offers it for a price, and the haggling begins. 


So Abraham bows to the Hittites, showing his humbleness and respect. He tells them that he wants the land, and he wants to pay the full price for it. Ephron said that the money meant nothing, and although Abraham agreed with him, he still paid the entire amount. 

 ¹⁷ So Ephron's field at Machpelah near Mamre—the field with its cave and all the trees anywhere within the boundaries of the field—became ¹⁸ Abraham's possession in the presence of all the Hittites who came to the gate of his city. ¹⁹ After this, Abraham buried his wife Sarah in the cave of the field at Machpelah near Mamre (that is, Hebron) in the land of Canaan. ²⁰ The field with its cave passed from the Hittites to Abraham as a burial place.

Here we see in verse 18 that this land became Abraham's possesion, a piece of land that was not granted to him by God. And so Abraham buried his wife Sarah in a cave that was part of the land he bought, and this became a burial place in which Abraham would be buried when his time comes.